Bortles, defense help keep Jags atop division
INDIANAPOLIS — Blake Bortles set up the Indianapolis Colts with a curveball Sunday.
The Jaguars' dominant defense finished it off with a rare shutout.
With feature back Leonard Fournette inactive, Bortles threw for a season-high 330 yards and one touchdown and the defense tied a franchise record with 10 sacks in a 27-0 drubbing at Indy.
“We obviously were able to get to their quarterback. The guys played well, guys were ready to step up,” coach Doug Marrone said.
Under the circumstances, the Jaguars (4-3) couldn't have scripted a better combination.
They spent the week fine-tuning their deep throws, and it worked perfectly.
Bortles completed firsthalf passes of 52, 50 and 45 yards, all longer than his previous season best of 35 yards.
He wound up 18 of 26 and finished with a rating of 124.7, the fourth-highest of his career.
T.J. Yeldon, who helped fill in for the injured Fournette, ran nine times for 122 yards, including a 58-yard scoring run late in the third quarter that sealed Indy's fate.
Jacksonville finished with 188 yards rushing.
And Bortles enjoyed the change of pace.
“Hopefully they keep stacking the box so we can keep doing that [throwing long]. It's a little bit more fun as a quarterback to throw than to hand it off,” he said.
“But as long as we're winning, that's irrelevant. We'll do whatever the defense shows us and play off of that.”
As usual, the Jags' defense was almost impenetrable.
While Jacksonville didn't add to its league-leading takeaway total, it matched the 10 sacks it had against Houston in the season opener, and the Jags got their first shutout since a 41-0 victory over the New York Jets on Oct. 8, 2006.
Jacksonville joined the 1984 Chicago Bears and 1967 Oakland Raiders as the only teams to record 10 or more sacks twice in the same season.
Strangely, Indy was shut out for the first time since a 41-0 loss to the Jets in a playoff game on Jan. 4, 2003.
The Colts (2-5) had their only serious scoring chance snuffed out on a botched fourth-and-2 quarterback sneak at the Jaguars 6-yard line.
“This one falls squarely on my shoulders,” coach Chuck Pagano said after Indy's second straight loss. “Obviously, I didn't have this team prepared and ready to go.” It was never even close. Bortles led Jacksonville to scores on its first two possessions — getting a 1-yard run from Chris Ivory to cap the first drive and finishing the second with a nifty 5-yard TD pass to Marcedes Lewis — for a 14-0 lead.
He set up new kicker Josh Lambo for two second-quarter field goals to make it 20-0.
The Jaguars snapped a four-game losing streak at Lucas Oil Stadium.